Tirreno - Adriatico 2021, March 10 - March 16

[hayneplane]

he can also gain back time in the ITT. Sure, Pogacar finished only 24s behind Ganna in UAE - but Engels said that the aim is to win that one, so they seem to be confident that van Aert is better than Ganna now

If they are that confident in his ITT then I would think one more stage win with the bonus seconds will likely be enough to podium the final GC behind Pogacar and Bernal.

That would be a sensational result.

 

[Bonimenier]

Anything less than 6 stage wins would be a major dissapointment.

 

[KZD]

What is more impressive in Van Aert vesides his ridiculous versatility is how he almost always seems to position well in sprints.
I think that he can win the green jersey already in this Toureven without sprinting every stage

 

[Lequack]

 

[RedheadDane]

Did he accidentally shoot anyone this time?

 

[search]

poor Gesink, no champagne (or dinner) for him, by the look of it

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

What is more impressive in Van Aert vesides his ridiculous versatility is how he almost always seems to position well in sprints.
I think that he can win the green jersey already in this Toureven without sprinting every stage

This was already clear before he started winning sprints. If you look at his first classic season (still in a blue shirt) you could see that he was always ideally positioned on key moments. Before every cobbled section, before every hill or climb, he popped up in the front of the bunch.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

on contrary VDP still gives me scares when positioning. His first RVV where he was positioned like 15th on both Kwaremont and Paterberg...
Strade this year on Sant Marie he had to come from pretty far.

It's pretty weird.. has the technical skills to do it easily but somehow seems too far back a lot

 

[jmdirt]

WvA is a master in positioning.
MvdP is too good to be a team mate: he went to the front solo, saw Merlier wasn't following, and he went back to pick him up while he could have stayed there and sprint!
Ewan reminds me of those drag race cars that have to much power to weight to not get the rubber slipping.

He has too much weight forward IMO. Sure that makes him aero, but his back tire is all over (moreso than most others).

 

[johnymax]

Funny if you'd asked me a year or two ago, I'd tell you van der Poel is the better sprinter, while van Aert is the better classics rider between the two. Now it looks like it's the other way around. The reality is that both are extremely versatile riders and both can win in any way imaginable, except winning on Alpe d'Huez against the likes of Pogačar or Bernal.

 

[jmdirt]

Winning Roland Garros will prove too hard for Wout van Aert.

I don't know, he's good on the red limestone!

 

[hayneplane]

What is more impressive in Van Aert vesides his ridiculous versatility is how he almost always seems to position well in sprints.
I think that he can win the green jersey already in this Toureven without sprinting every stage

If every stage finish had equal green jersey points on offer I would agree with you but with the flat finishes so heavily weighted you can’t skip contesting any and expect to win Green in Paris.

 

[tobydawq]

If every stage finish had equal green jersey points on offer I would agree with you but with the flat finishes so heavily weighted you can’t skip contesting any and expect to win Green in Paris.

I don't see a good reason why he would skip any.

 

[Big Doopie]

I think I will never understand the skillset of this rider, this is just nuts. Congrats to him beating some nice tier sprinters here.

the only rider I can compare him too is Freddy Maertens

the rare combination of sprinter and TTer, while managing to also surprise in the mountains (Maertens finished 8th of the 1976 TDF — one of the hardest mountain GTs of that time — also winning 8 stages).

 

[hayneplane]

I don't see a good reason why he would skip any.

Hopefully he won’t but team duties might mean they don’t let him

 

[senna6541]

Another nice win for WVA. As an MVDP fan, I view any WVA win as a win for MVDP - except when they're racing head to head of course.

 

[Bonimenier]

Another nice win for WVA. As an MVDP fan, I view any WVA win as a win for MVDP - except when they're racing head to head of course.

I view any win of any rider as a win for my favourite rider. That way I'm always happy.

 

[jaylew]

Funny if you'd asked me a year or two ago, I'd tell you van der Poel is the better sprinter, while van Aert is the better classics rider between the two. Now it looks like it's the other way around. The reality is that both are extremely versatile riders and both can win in any way imaginable, except winning on Alpe d'Huez against the likes of Pogačar or Bernal.

I've seen them sprint against each other head to head on the road and in cross and more often than not Mathieu wins so he's without a doubt just as fast and likely faster after a hard race (see Flanders and Euros and every cx race). I'd give Wout the edge in a bunch sprint after an easy race for some of the reasons others Logic and DT mentioned and he's just not the type to follow a train in the finale -seeing today he seems to even have trouble leading one

 

[Bonimenier]

I've seen them sprint against each other head to head on the road and in cross and more often than not Mathieu wins so he's without a doubt just as fast and likely faster after a hard race (see Flanders and Euros and every cx race). I'd give Wout the edge in a bunch sprint after an easy race for some of the reasons others Logic and DT mentioned and he's just not the type to follow a train in the finale -seeing today he seems to even have trouble leading one

As mentioned before by some van der Poel has a ridiculous fast acceleration. That's the reason he is nearly impossible to beat when the starting speed is relatively low, which in most of your examples was exactly the case. This is the reason that some people criticized van Aert to start the sprint in de Ronde so late and at a lower pace.

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

VdP wasn't going to contest the sprint anyway. He was trying to lead out Merlier, but as we've seen before, leading out someone is one of the few things he's not good at on a bike.

I totally agree. Van der Poel as a lead-out goes way to wildly and with too many tempo changes.

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

Prato di Tivo should normally be too hard.

I think so. He could survive Prato di Tivo on his Tour 2020 form. But not on his actual form (which is not bad, but not 100 %).

 

[Fernandez]

People speak a lot about MVDP, who is an incredible rider, but WVA is the real deal. The man can do it all. Can sprint with the best, can time trial with the best, can climb with the best, can win cobbles races, can win hilly races, etc.
Men, Im impresed with him.

 

[Zoef-Lightning]

Funny if you'd asked me a year or two ago, I'd tell you van der Poel is the better sprinter, while van Aert is the better classics rider between the two. Now it looks like it's the other way around. The reality is that both are extremely versatile riders and both can win in any way imaginable, except winning on Alpe d'Huez against the likes of Pogačar or Bernal.

But a few years ago in minor races, before both Van Aert en Van der Poel started to compete in big races, and in cyclocross sprints, Van Aert beat Van der Poel a few times in a sprint.

 

[RedheadDane]

Hang on; I just noticed - during the pre-stage interview - that the leader's jersey (and presumably also the other jerseys) are covered in photos.

 

[tobydawq]

Aw, Wout and Mathieu hanging out together in the back of the bunch. I didn't think they were pals.